Babysitting the Marauders
by pivotallovex0x
Summary: Gabrielle LeCorte grew up next door to the Potters and they became her family. When going to Hogwarts she became the 'sitter' of the infamous Marauders. This is the story of their seventh and final year of Hogwarts and, ultimately, the rest of their live.
1. Same Old Story

**Chapter 1 : Same Old Story**

Gabrielle LeCorte didn't have much to complain about in her first eleven years. She lived with her mother and three brothers, when they weren't away at a magical boarding school, that is. She didn't mind much the absence of her brothers or father because she had something to make up for them. The Potters. They were as close as her own family. Mr. Potter was as close as a father and his son, James, was as close as another brother and was her best friend.

Dominique did as much as she could for her family of five but it wasn't easy for her. When Gabrielle was three months old her father walked out on Dominique, leaving her with three rowdy boys and an infant to care for. She was nearly driven insane that night. Her young baby cried. Her six year old son, Maurice, only wanted to see his father. Her nine year old son, Antoine, was carrying on because he didn't want his brother to go away to school and the oldest, Jacques, was eleven and finally able to go away to school, just when his mother needed him most. Jacques was the only one who really understood what was going on. He helped during the short month he was home but was then forced to abandon his mother for his education.

Fortunately there was a blessing in disguise living right next door to them. They never really talked with the Potters before. They were neighbors and were polite but there was never any reason to even be in touch with each other. The Potters had no children until two months before Gabrielle was born. Dominique LeCorte, or Bourque now, didn't have more than a few days alone with the three young children before the Potter stepped in, even with an infant of their own. Laura Potter didn't work so she watched the kids while Dominique worked. Without that family, not only would she be a mess, but Gabrielle might never have found one of her best friends.

James and Gabrielle were a perfect fit from the start. Having spent their infant days together they formed a bond that would only grow as they did. It was fair to say that together they were quite a handful. James always came up with these crazy pranks to pull on people but lucky for Gabrielle, though she helped to pull it off, she never was punished for it. Everything was always James' fault for none of the adults would believe that the only sweet little girl among all of the rowdy boys could do anything wrong.

So when they were finally eleven and going off to Hogwarts reality struck the parents at what terrible damage James could inflict on the old school and the students who attended it. It was then that Gabrielle was given the task of babysitting James. Of course, she never knew that by 'keeping an eye' on her best mate would leave her the tedious task of trying to control the infamous group of pranksters that would form only a month into their first year of Hogwarts. When it came around she, of course, had no other option but to accept the impossible task and try to keep them out of trouble.

_Seventh Year_

"Alright, kids. Please try and behave. I love you all. You best hurry or you will miss your train!" Laura Potter fussed over the four teenagers that she had cared for over the summer. They were just getting ready to leave with Dominique for the train station. This was the first year that she wasn't accompanying them to the station.

James Potter rolled his eyes at his mother's show of affection to himself and his friends. "All right. Bye, mum. I'll be sure to write you," he said as she hugged him, blushing a little with embarrassment. She gave him a big kiss on the cheek before letting him step away from her.

"G'bye, Laura! I'll miss you terribly while I'm gone but don't you fret. I'll be back for Christmas!" Sirius Black told her smiling wide before pulling the woman into a tight hug and kissing her on the cheek. The summer before their fifth year of Hogwarts he had run away from home and Laura had taken him in and was like a mother to him, much more than his real mother ever was. He winked one of his beautiful gray eyes at her before releasing her.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you, Laura. It's been a pleasure," Remus Lupin said before he was pulled into a hug after Sirius, smiling at her. As the tradition for the past three years, he stayed the last week of summer with the Potters. All of the Marauders would come but this year Peter had had some other obligation that he couldn't get out of leaving them one member short but they expected to meet up with him soon.

Lastly Laura turned to Gabrielle LeCorte with a sad smile. "Please keep an eye on my boys, hmm? You know I worry so much about them. I'm sure you could keep them in line?" Laura said grasping one of Gabrielle's hands in her own. The same thing was asked of her every year and it seemed to get harder and harder to keep the Marauders out of trouble.

Gabrielle laughed. "I'll do my best, Laurie. Goodbye. I'll write you and my mum," she said and hugged Laura tight. She turned around to see that the boys had already disappeared, no doubt to chase after her mother who had arranged for a cab to take them to King's Cross Station. Her mother was undoubtably beautiful which, to her displeasure, the boys had seemed to take notice of. It was usually only when Dominique came home that they liked to venture over to her house and hang around, invited or not.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes when she saw that her mother had modified the cab so that all of their trunks fit and so the back seat was enlarged to fit four instead of three. The driver didn't seem to have noticed however, being too captivated by Dominique.

"Do you have everything, mon chéris?" Dominique asked them as they stood on the platform. They had about five minutes before the train departed from the station. Good timing since they usually end up having to run on the train with barely a good bye to Laura and Dominique.

"Yes, mére. Au revoir, Je vous écrirai," Gabriella said and hugged her mother quickly. "Come on, boys. Let's go find our compartment," she said and started to drag her trunk towards the train but turned to see that none of them had moved. They obviously didn't want to leave without 'properly saying goodbye to Dominique', as Sirius had once put it. Peter Pettrigrew, seemed to have found them as well and waited with the boys to say goodbye to Dominique.

Sirius was currently pulling Dominique towards him and hugging her. "I will miss you're pleasurably company while I'm away but do not fret, sweet Dominique. I will be sure to write you and will be back to see you for the holidays," he told her once he had released her and kissed her hand, looking up at her with one of his infamous smiles.

James stepped forward next and hugged Dominique. "Au revoir, Domi. I'll write you and mum," he said grinning in the same way as Sirius before stepping aside.

Remus hugged her next and said, "Thank you for your hospitality, Dominique. I'm looking forward to the next time I will see you. G'bye." Peter stepped forward next and hugged her wordlessly, his cheeks turning slightly pink as he did this.

Dominique chuckled as the boys grabbed their trunks and started walking off to catch up with an irritated Gabrielle. "Au revoir, boys. Do try and behave yourselves. Je t'aime, Ellie," Dominique replied and waved to them.

Gabrielle didn't turn around or reply. She had never liked the way the Marauders were around her mother. Dominique was her mother after all and she didn't want them drooling all over her, no matter how attractive she was. She was a single mom and, though she always put up with their special treatment of her, she hated how a forty-six year old women stole the teenage boys' attention away from her. Gabrielle undoubtably inherited her mother's good looks seeing as they shared the same long legs, curls, strong bone structure and thin curvy figure. The only thing that she got from her father were her aqua eyes and the blondness of her hair.

James barreled ahead of them and over towards where a familiar redhead stood saying her farewells to her parents. Once they had gone, he began to 'talk up' the redhead who looked rather bored with him. When the two girls made eye contact, the redhead begged with those hypnotizing green eyes for help. Rolling her eyes, Gabrielle jogged over to the group and joined them saying, "James Potter would you leave my poor Lily alone? This is our last year of school. As much as I want you two together, I don't think you begging her to go out with you will help. How about giving her some space?" she had wrapped her arm around the redhead, Lily, as she spoke and gave James a threatening look.

James Potter ran a hand through his unruly jet black hair grinning at the two girls. His glasses were slipping slightly down his nose but he pushed them up gently before glancing at the three boys behind him. The chubby, short, blonde boy was laughing so hard he was having some trouble breathing. Standing next to him was the scrawnier looking boy who looked a bit tired with his brown hair falling into his face. He also had some scars that he tried desperately to hide. Through the hint of tiredness, you could see the humor shining through his eyes as he patted the choking boy on his back. The last boy had to be the most handsome of them and just as much the daring leader as James was. His long wavy hair fell gracefully around his face but didn't hide the dangerous grey eyes that were soft against his tan skin. He was very toned and didn't lack that charming grin that matched that of his best mate who stood at his side grinning at the girls.

"Well if it isn't our little Gabby, defending Ms. Lily Evans once more. Don't you ever get sick of pulling these two off each other? I say we just lock them in a room together and let them work it out without these interruptions and they can get it on! I know you have the hots for James but you gotta just let it go. Let him and Lily be happy without you," the handsome boy said grinning. He stood at six foot two which was only a few inches taller than Gabrielle's five foot ten. For some reason the two had become best friends. Their personalities were similar but they fought constantly while still remaining best friend. Gabrielle, James and Sirius were the closest out of the group, especially since during the summer they were all together since Sirius moved in with James.

She just rolled her aqua eyes at him. "Very funny Mr. Black. But as you know I have no more than brotherly feelings for Mr. Potter. The same goes for you, Mr. Pettigrew," the mousy blonde boy looked up at the mention of his name, "and Mr. Lupin," the scrawny was the last to look up at her at the mention of his name, "and all of you know it. I would appreciate if you would all just cut the crap," she finished, still irritated about their treatment of her mother.

No one had anything else to say. The only advantage of looking after James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew was that while most of the other girls at Hogwarts struggled just to get a smile from them, she had complete control over them. They obeyed her, most of the time at least. She was the care taker of the infamous Marauders and most girls would kill to fill her shoes.

Most girl that is except, of course, one of her only female friends, Lily Evans. She had, though most were unsure why, caught the eye of James and couldn't seem to shake him from her. He had pursued her since halfway through first year when they were introduced by Gabrielle. She, however, never showed any interest in him, actually it was really the opposite. She had only shown dislike and disgust. Through all the years leading up to this finally year, she had refused his pursuit of just a single date from her but James was not about to give up. He still had one year ahead of him to win the beautiful redhead over who had rejected him countless times.

The whistle blew announced that the train would be departing. "Come on you lot. Get on the train," Gabrielle ordered and they all scrambled onto the train, dragging their trunks behind them. They found the familiar compartment that the Marauders had shared since first year that had been carefully etched with 'The Marauders' on the outside of the door, claiming it as their own.


	2. Omens and Ending Arguments

**Chapter 2 : Omens and Ending Arguments**

They all settled into the compartment comfortably enough and each started doing their own thing. A game of exploding snaps had begun involving James, Sirius and Peter in one corner of the compartment. It was a very intense game, as always. Remus had already taken out one of his favorite books that he was immediately drawn into, although, he had to keep one eye on the game that was taking place to his left. He was to referee if anything fowl began to take place between them(as they often did).

Lily settled into the seat next to Gabrielle and as far away from the game as possible, which positioned her next to the door uncomfortably. She sat across from Remus watching people walk past their compartment counting the minutes until she could escape to the Prefects' compartment. She loved Gabrielle and liked to spend time with her but she couldn't help but to wish that her friend would pull herself away from the Marauders every once in a while.

Gabrielle was telling Lily about her summer, which had been spent mostly with James and Sirius but she had escape for ten days to stay with her eldest brother in France. "...and oh, Lily! It was beautiful! I had half a mind never to leave again but, of course, if I had I am sure that James and Sirius would never forgive me, nor my mother. And of course there was this amazing boy there that I am sure I have told you about in an owl. Unfortunately, he was a muggle and life would have been to difficult if anything developed further but he was great to spend time with while I was there and-" she gushed rapidly but was cut off by James. She glared at him angrily but didn't say anything.

"Come on, girls! Play with us," James called and Sirius wiggled his eyebrows at them from beside James. They had obviously not taken any note that the girls were already doing something. It wouldn't be like them to think about that anyway.

Lily shook her head at them and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "That's a ridiculous game. You are just waiting for it to explode in your face," she said offhandedly and turned to Gabrielle. She had only just realized that she had barely listened to anything her friend had said but had only nodded and smiled appropriately. "I'm awfully sorry, Gabs, but I should really get going. I should like to get to the Prefects' compartment early so that I can talk to the Head Boy. You can tell me more about your summer later," she said with excitement. She glanced at Remus out of the corner of her eye as she stood. She wanted him to be the head boy but he hadn't said that he was. She couldn't imagine who else it could be. "Come on, Remus. You should come along, too," she added before exiting the compartment.

Remus closed his book and stood once Lily had disappeared into the corridor. He turned to James with a hint of a smile on his face. "Come on, James. Lily said that she wanted to meet with the Head Boy. You better hurry up and go meet with her," he said to James, his smile spreading across his lips. James looked up at Remus and then looked back down at the game he was playing that was starting to get heated.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. She had already completely forgotten about her irritation with them and had silently forgiven them. "I'll take your place, James. You have to go to the Prefects' compartment. Lils will be waiting for you," she told him smiling as he stood and she slid down into his spot beside Sirius and across from Peter. Remus and James left the compartment, James calling after Lily who must not have gotten far enough down the corridor to be out of sight from the two boys.

Remus returned every so often to avoid his rounds but neither James or Lily ever came back to the compartment. The game was finished soon after James left and Gabrielle had beat the two boys, which they argue wasn't fair. Peter had fallen asleep in the corner while Sirius and Gabrielle pigged out on the sweets they had bought when the trolly came past, eventually falling into a comfortably position with Sirius' feet up on the seat beside Peter and Gabrielle stretched across the seat she shared with him, her head rested in his lap. Gabrielle was snorting with laugher when James came back to the compartment as the station came into view and it was announced that they would be there in a few short minutes. They woke up Peter as Remus joined them as well.

Gabrielle continued searching for Lily as they exited the train and started to board the carriages. She spotted Lily getting onto one of the carriages that was still empty. She rushed over to meet her with the Marauders in tow and they all climbed in, putting as much space between James and Lily as possible since Lily looked so unhappy with him. She just glared at James from her seat throughout the whole bumpy ride up to the castle.

"I still can't get used to those thestrals. I mean, its been three years since we saw your grandfather die, James, but I just can't seem to shake this feeling that hovers over me when I see them. This feeling of death, almost like a reminder," Gabrielle told them as they all piled out of a single carriage in front of the large wooden doors to Hogwarts. Lily glanced over at them and shuddered slightly and turned away from them quickly.

"Way to bring down our mood, Gabs. We were all happy to start our last year of school and you had to bring the omen of death into our conversation," Sirius complained nudging her with his elbow as they walked inside with the rest of the students, excluding the first years, of course.

"Last I recalled you are the omen of death, Padfoot," Remus countered Sirius, coming to Gabrielle's rescue. He gave her a smile that she didn't catch since he stood on the very edge of their group. She just happened to be facing in towards Sirius and James who dominated the center of the group, as usual.

"I think you all need to stop bickering over things that don't even make sense. There is no way that Sirius could actually be the omen of death since that's a dog. Of course you meant metaphorically. Right, Remmy?" James said to them, jerking his head towards Lily not-so-subtly. He hoped that they would interpret it in the way he meant it. Which was that she didn't know about Remus' 'furry little problem' nor their illegal animagus forms and he wanted to keep it that way for the time being.

Lily rolled her eyes at James and crossed her arms angrily. She was already angry with him and that comment only added to the fire. "There is no reason to be discreet in front of [i]me[/i], Potter. Even though you may be too thick to piece simple things together, I am not. I've know about Remus' condition since second year and it wasn't hard to figure out that you three are unregistered animagi when you began to sneak off with him at his time of month. Not to mention, your little nicknames are a dead giveaway," she told him with a smug look on her face.

Two jaws dropped open, gaping at the smug girl. These jaws, of course, belonged to James and Sirius. They had stopped in their tracks causing a few people to knock into the group as they all stopped to look at the two boys. Dirty looks were thrown at them as people walked around them and into the Great Hall but they were all ignored. If this news had come only a minute later they would have been sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall but instead they were standing in the Entrance Hall in shock.

"But-" "How did you?" "It is?" "No way" "Who?" "How?" "What?" These were the only words that the two boys could manage to utter as they looked at the girl in disbelief. They thought that their plan had been flawless and that no one would figure it out. They had underestimated the brilliant girl they claimed to know so well. Gabrielle and Remus shared a look that clearly showed how often they had to deal with this disbelieving look the boys were displaying. They were often surprised by other's knowledge. They thought that no one was able to predict their actions or understand their way of thinking.

Gabrielle grabbed a hold of Sirius and Remus did the same with James and they steered the boys into the Great Hall, sitting them down across from each other at the table. They didn't have more than a minute to settle in before Professor McGonagall shuffled in the fresh batch of frightened first years who would be sorted in front of the school. The boys got over their shock and made Lily take their 'oath' to never tell anyone about the illegal animagus forms or Remus' problem. She followed along, completely over what had caused her anger with James earlier, until they insisted that she stood and chanted the Hogwarts' song. Fortunately for her Remus told her that it was unnecessary and that she was trustworthy.

A tall, lanky girl with mousy brown hair, bold blue eyes and freckled skin hurried into the hall once Dumbledore completed his speech and sat down next to Lily immediately immersing into a conversation, no doubt, about why she was late. Her name was Emmeline Vance.

Everyone dug into the food once it appeared on the table. The boys and Gabrielle all had at least three hardy helpings, Sirius continuing on to his sixth helping while James had stopped at fifths. Lily and Emmeline only had one helping and sat in disgust as they watched them inhale plate after plate of food, especially Gabrielle. Lily expected the boys to eat more than her but she still never got over how much food that Gabrielle ate. It was an unreasonable amount considering her size but somehow she managed to keep her nice figure. Lily reasoned that she had grown up with boys and was influenced by them, but she still found it unbelievable.

Emmeline and Gabrielle were far from friends, unfortunately. They were Lily's closest friends and hated each other. Emmeline had been like all the other girls who decided they didn't like Gabrielle simply out of jealousy. Emmeline used to have a crush on Sirius. She had since stopped liking him, or so she claims, but kept her grudge against Gabrielle for being so close to Sirius and the rest of the Marauders.

_GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM_

Sirius sat sprawled across the couch in front of the fire in the common room rubbing his stomach. He currently had a stomach ache from inhaling so much food in such a small amount of time. It was true that the Hogwarts food was amazing but it appeared, he had missed it a little too much. The rest of the group hurried to get their own seats in the chairs by the fire. Emmeline and Remus each took one of the large arm chairs and Lily had no choice but to sit beside James on the 'love seat' because there was no place else left to sit.

Peter had taken off as soon as the feast was over to who knew where. They didn't ask questions. This left Gabrielle with no where to sit except on the couch which Sirius managed to stretch out so he covered the whole thing. Gabrielle grinned knowing that there was only one thing that she could do to make him move. She positioned herself so she sat right on top of his stomach. Because of his stomach ache, he groaned in pain and surrendered promising to sit up so she would have somewhere to sit once she got up. Emmeline rolled her eyes at this with irritation written all over her face. Because she was friends with Lily she felt like she could hang out with the Marauders but Gabrielle always seemed to be there to dominate their attention.

Gabrielle stood up and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Sirius to sit up. He took his time sitting up slowly and scooting forward slightly only to lay back down as soon as Gabrielle sat down in the small spot he left for her on one end of the couch. She rolled her eyes and wiggled, causing his head to shake back and forth but he didn't show any sign of moving. She just sighed and looked over to James and Lily who were arguing, playing with Sirius' hair that fanned out in her lap.

"You could have easily sat down beside Sirius on the couch and it would be better for both Gabrielle and me. I wouldn't have to sit by you and she wouldn't have a huge arrogant head in her lap!" Lily exclaimed crossing her arms over her chest as James looked over at her with a satisfied smile on his face.

"As much as you want to deny it you will be spending a lot of time with me this year. You're Head Girl and I'm Head Boy so you are obligated to at least go on one date with me, even if it's a study date. It just so happens that we have all the same classes this year, as well," James said. He had been waiting all day to drop that news on her. Unfortunately he chose the wrong time since she was already pretty angry with him.

Lily jumped up from her seat causing Remus to be pulled out of his thoughts and look towards James and Lily. Now all eyes were on them. "James Potter you are unbelievable! Some days I wish I had never met you!" she exclaimed angrily before stomping out of the Gryffindor Common Room. Under normal circumstances a better choice would have been the girl's dormitory since boys couldn't get up there but James and Sirius had proved that it was possible the previous year so that was no longer safe either. She really had no way to get away from him.

James winked to Sirius before running after Lily out of the portrait hole. From in the common room you could hear him shout, "Lily wait! Let's talk about this!" The three couldn't resist the laughter at the continual feuding of their two friends.

"So Sirius, how was your summer?" Emmeline asked leaning towards him with interest, trying to pretend that Gabrielle wasn't there. Though she claimed that she didn't like Sirius anymore, it was hardly a believable claim.

Sirius looked over at her and smiled. "I had a great summer. I was staying with the Potters so I spend the whole summer hanging out with James and Gabs, except for that excruciatingly long ten days that Gabby-pie left us for her stupid 'biological' brother. She doesn't need real brothers when she has us but overall my summer was fun. Tons of pranking and quidditch and, of course, swimming in the lake and creek. How was your summer, Em?" he replied grinning up at Gabrielle who grinned back at the memories. They had snuck out of their rooms countless nights to swim in the lake by the moonlight.

Emmeline feigned a smile to hide the anger that was building up inside of her to hear that he had spent all summer with Gabrielle. "Mine was fun too. I went to America to visit my mother's sister and her family. I had a really great time there," she replied and looked around uncomfortably. She fortunately spotted a short girl with cropped black hair and a bright round face walking towards the girl's staircase. "Hestia!" she called and hurried to catch up with Hestia Jones. Together they disappeared up to the seventh year girls' dormitory but not without a glare over the shoulder to Gabrielle who certainly wasn't looking forward to spending the night there.

James and Lily hadn't come back yet that night. Gabrielle, Sirius and Remus carried a mellow chatter about upcoming events and their plans for the last year of school. Sirius fell asleep around midnight in Gabrielle's lap after Remus had retired to bed. Gabrielle wiggled gently out from under him, placing a pillow under his head to replace her legs. When she went up to her room, she quickly undressed in the dark and crawled into bed, not wanting to disturb her roommates. She must have fallen asleep before Lily came back for bed.


End file.
